Project 1 Response Writing

Due Tues. Jan. 26, before the end of class.

Students will conduct a self-assessment of their work for Exercise 1 and Project 1 by answering a series of questions. The final written document will be saved to Turnstile_2 as a PDF, and also printed out and delivered to the instructor before the end of class.

Create a letter-sized, portrait Word Document, or other text-based document, and include the following in the header:

• your first and last name / your Winthrop email
• VCOM 453 / Corporate Identity / Spring 2016

1. What was the most challenging part of Exercise 1, and why did you find it challenging? How would you approach this challenging part of Exercise 1 differently next time? Use your textbook or other sources to cite an alternate method or methods you could use instead, or steps you could factor into your process, and state why it would be valuable.

2. What was the most challenging part of Project 1, and why did you find it challenging? How would you approach this challenging part of Project 1 differently next time? Use your textbook or other sources to cite an alternate method or methods you could use instead, or steps you could factor into your process, and state why it would be valuable.

3. Describe the design process you followed when creating your logos during Project 1. Do not merely restate the assigned method of making 12 variations of logos, each with 5 sub-variations, and then selecting the best, to make 10 more. Go deeper, and write about how you worked and why you worked that way. Explain this process in your own terms, so that the average person can read and understand what you did, and why you did it. Use your textbook or another source, to reinforce why one part of your process, or your entire process, was valid, benefiting the overall outcome.

4. Aesthetically and formally, do all 110 of your logos have an appropriate look and feel for the audience(s), demographic, market, and brand? Why or why not? Use your textbook or other sources to support your answer.

5. Rate the overall quality of your work using this scale:

• 1 unsatisfactory
• 2 inconsistent, if things are inconsistent, clearly state what they are and what improvements could be made
• 3 good 
• 4 exceptional

• Definition of demographic
• Market research, market opportunities
• Naming, and name research
• Final brand name chosen
• The design process you followed
• Craft of all 110 designs

Worth 30 points

• 10 points for answering all of the questions completely (5 questions total, each worth 2 points)
• 8 points for citing examples to back-up your answers where requested (4 questions, each worth 2 points)
• 5 points for writing, spelling, grammar 
• 5 points for overall clarity and logic of statements, and strength of student's written argument
• 2 points for formatting, following directions

Project 1

Goals: to design a range of brand identities, aka logos, following a system that explores various design forms; to use marketing background, demographic background, and other research elements from Exercise 1 for designing your brand identity

Final Delivery

• total of 110 logos
  
  Printed Delivery
• each logo is in a 5-inch square, printed and mounted on Bristol board or card stock, you will have one logo on one 5-inch square for a total of 110 logos, each on its own 5-inch square
• do not bleed any part of the logo off the edge; keep the logo within the 5-inch format, ideally giving yourself a 1-inch margin of air between the logo and artboard edge
  
  Digital Delivery
• PDF of all 110 designs, may be on 110 separate artboards, or one gigantic artboard
  

Color: open 
Typography: open

Read Parts A, B, and C below, to create a diagram that shows how many marks will be made in each step.

Part A
Design 2 different brand identities for your fashion label, making:

1. wordmark
2. lettermark
3. emblem
4. pictorial mark
5. abstract/symbolic mark
6. dynamic mark

You will have a total of 12 different, and unique brand identities (2 from each of the 6 categories above). Make sure each one is different, and distinguishable.

Part B
Once you arrive at your 12 identities, you will create 5 variations for each of them, for a total of 60 marks.

Part C
Of those 60 total marks, select 5 of the best, and design 10 variations of each of them.

In the end, you will have 110 total identities designed.

Before setting out to design your identities, examine the elements from page 144 of our textbook, including Meaning, Attributes, and Acronyms, all the way to Angle, Intersection, and Patterns.

And consider these questions:

• What will the look and feel be?
• How will color be used? Or not be used?
• What could color symbolize?
• What does your chosen font say about your brand?

Mid-point critique
Jan. 19, review (at least) the 12 different identities

Deadline
Jan. 26, all 110 designs due

Worth 100 points total
Craft 20
Composition 30
Concept 40
Professionalism/Presentation 10

Exercise 1

Goals: to engage with branding elements; to conduct preliminary research and brand development, for use in designing Project 1; to create a unique and appropriate name for a fashion line the student has invented themselves; to define its brand elements

Identify an emerging market in the fashion industry specializing in either men's or women's clothing and accessories. May also be for:

• children
• both men and women
• or men and women and children

Your demographic is open, and you will need to identify the demographic that your fashion line will appeal to, making sure that it's appropriate and could deliver a profit for investors.

Use research to back up your decision-making.

State the following:

• What your fashion line will specialize in, and why it's a profitable market.
• Who your demographic is.
• Why they would want to engage with this brand, and how they would do so.
• What reassurances the brand gives.
• What promises the brand would give.
• What is your fashion line's big idea, ideally stated in one sentence.

Find imagery of the following, sourcing it from image searches online, or from your own photography/imagery archive:

• 2 images of your target demographic 
• 2 kinds of cars your target demographic would drive
• 2 kinds of watches your target demographic would wear
• 2 kinds of coats your target demographic would wear 
• 2 kinds of posters, books, toys, or other ephemera they would own
• 10 logos of your competition in fashion
• 3 logos that have a similar look and feel to your company

Come up with 10 names for your fashion line, that may fall into the categories in our textbook: founder, metaphor, descriptive, acronym, fabricated, magic spell, combination of the above. Consult the section of our textbook that covers naming, and qualities of an effective name.

Consult our textbook, and its sections on...

1. What is branding?
2. Who are stakeholders?
3. Why invest?
4. Brand strategy
5. Positioning
6. Big idea
7. Customer experience
8. Names and Naming, there are many parts of the textbook that cover this
9. A Process for success 
10. Questions to ponder
11. Market research

Due Tues. Jan. 19
Exercise 1: worth 30 points total
10 uniqueness
10 appropriateness
5 depth of research
5 professionalism/presentation

Reading and Response

Due Thurs. Jan. 14, read the Basics section of our textbook, and complete the work specified below.

Take note of all of the different kinds of symbols that the author identifies, illustrates, and defines such as Wordmark, Letterform Marks, Pictorial Marks, etc.

Create a running list of those kinds of brand identities, and find multiple examples of each brand identity not shown in our textbook. Print your examples out in color no smaller than 1 inches, no larger than 3 inches. Make sure they are legible. Cut each symbol out so it stands on its own.

Have your list and printed examples on hand to discuss in our Jan. 14 class.

Worth 30 points for in-class research, design selection, comprehension of topics and issues, and in-class participation/discussion.

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